Hunting Britain's Most Wanted

Hunting Britain's Most Wanted, Thu 19 May, 9pm, Channel 4

The expansion of the EU and open borders in the UK has led to a surge in foreign criminals heading for Britain. The number of requests for wanted fugitives has risen ten-fold over the past five years and now totals more than 4,300 a year. Over the course of three months Cutting Edge have unique access to New Scotland Yard's Extradition Unit and follow them as they go about their work - tracking down murderers, suspected rapists and armed robbers from abroad to send them back to face justice.  

Some of these criminals go to extraordinary lengths to evade capture, changing their name and ID so it's a painstaking and often frustrating experience tracking them down. A record 1500 foreign fugitives are now arrested each year and with more and more coming to these shores it's a job that is stretching the unit and its officers to the limit.

The film makers are there as officers follow up on leads, tracing potentially dangerous criminals, and capture high tension arrests as the unit's hard work finally pays off. The cameras are also with the unit when it deals with some of its biggest ever high profile cases including the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, wanted in Sweden for alleged sex crimes, and the arrest of Shrien Dewani, wanted in South Africa in connection with the death of his wife, Anni, on their honeymoon.

Other cases include the hunt for Hungary's most wanted fugitive, a man linked to a string of armed robberies and an attempted murder and currently roaming around London. The police also chase down a Turkish man who conducted an honour killing and a suspected Croatian war criminal. Officers intercept a man convicted of murder in his homeland Albania. He has spent more than ten years on the run, and his wife unwittingly leads them to him. He is arrested in the middle of a busy street market protesting his innocence.  The unit is put on high alert for a suspected serial rapist who's escaped the French authorities - he is considered by the police to be highly dangerous and they must do everything in their power to close in on him before it's too late.